Assembly Bill A5560

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5560
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             February 14, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. JACKSON -- read once and referred to the Commit-
   tee on Children and Families
 
 AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to requiring  child
   protective services workers to receive training in developmental disa-
   bility  awareness and sensitivity and cultural competency, sensitivity
   and implicit bias

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Paragraphs (b) and (c) of subdivision 5 of section 421 of
 the social services law, paragraph (b) as amended by chapter 470 of  the
 laws  of  2024,  paragraph  (c)  as amended by chapter 67 of the laws of
 2019, are amended to read as follows:
   (b) promulgate regulations setting forth training  requirements  which
 shall  specify,  among  other  things, that all persons hired by a child
 protective service on or after April first, nineteen hundred  eighty-six
 shall  have satisfactorily completed a course approved by the department
 within the first three months of  employment,  in  the  fundamentals  of
 child  protection,  provided, however, that on or after April first, two
 thousand  twenty-five,  such  course  may  be  satisfactorily  completed
 through distance learning methods which evince that all participants are
 in  attendance  for the duration of the course and are able to ask ques-
 tions of the instructor. Each county shall  be  authorized  to  adopt  a
 local  law, ordinance or resolution to provide for a local department of
 social services to fulfill the training requirement established by  this
 paragraph  through  a  distance learning method, excluding the annual in
 service training requirement. Such course shall include at  least  basic
 training  in  the principles and techniques of investigations, including
 relationships with other investigative bodies,  legal  issues  in  child
 protection,   and  methods  of  remediation,  diagnosis,  treatment  and
 prevention.  Such  regulations  shall  also  specify  that  all  persons
 employed  by a child protective service [on or after December first, two

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD07587-01-5
              

 A. 5560                             2

 thousand six] shall satisfactorily complete [six] EIGHT hours of  annual
 [in  service]  IN-SERVICE  training,  beginning  in their second year of
 employment. Such annual [in service] IN-SERVICE training shall  include,
 but  is  not  limited to, review of the protocols for identification and
 investigation of child  abuse  and  maltreatment,  any  developments  in
 legal, treatment and prevention issues in child protection, [and] review
 and  analysis of field experiences of child protective services workers,
 DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY AWARENESS AND SENSITIVITY, AND CULTURAL  COMPE-
 TENCY, SENSITIVITY AND IMPLICIT BIAS TRAINING.
   (c) require all persons assigned to be a supervisor by a child protec-
 tive service on or after April first, nineteen hundred eighty-six, shall
 have  satisfactorily completed, within the first three months of employ-
 ment as a supervisor or within three months of  the  effective  date  of
 this  paragraph,  whichever shall occur first, a course in the fundamen-
 tals of child protection developed by the office of children and  family
 services.    ALL SUPERVISORS MUST COMPLETE EIGHT HOURS OF ANNUAL IN-SER-
 VICE TRAINING BEGINNING IN THEIR SECOND YEAR OF EMPLOYMENT AS A SUPERVI-
 SOR. Such training course shall,  among  other  things,  strengthen  and
 expand current training procedures for child protective service supervi-
 sors;  provide the skills, knowledge and standards to practice effective
 case planning and  case  management;  provide  comprehensive  assessment
 tools  needed  in critical decision making; require participation in the
 existing next generation training required by child  protective  service
 caseworkers;  strengthen  recognition  and  response  to safety and risk
 indicators; improve  skills  to  promote  consistent  implementation  of
 training  and  practice;  provide  the necessary tools and assistance to
 build the ability to coach and monitor child  protective  service  case-
 workers  and  model  effective investigation practice; increase cultural
 competency and sensitivity; INCREASE DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY  AWARENESS
 AND  SENSITIVITY; and establish an annual [in service] IN-SERVICE train-
 ing program specifically focused on child  protective  service  supervi-
 sors.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.